Parent Lessons

Right outside my clinic, beside where I park my truck every day, is the most gorgeous tiny maple tree you have ever seen.    Every time I see that little tree, I pause.  Maybe it's to think about my problems.  More often, it's to reflect on my blessings.

My mom is going through some pretty serious health issues right now and time for reflection seems aplenty.  I find myself wandering to the lessons that my parents taught me.

One came to mind this week when I spilled some coffee and a kind patient offered to clean it up for me.  "Nope.  I was taught to clean up your own messes."

That got me to thinking about all those lessons. "If you did it, you fix it."

I wish Congress would figure that one out.  They should have listened to my momma.   We would have a lot fewer messes that way.

I was always taught that anything worth doing was worth doing well. 

When I was about 12, I built my own treehouse.  My dad, who couldn't help, sat at the bottom of the tree in a lawn chair and supervised.

He could tell when I didn't drive a nail all the way in, content just to beat it in crooked.  He insisted that I pull that nail out, straighten it, and do it again, this time correctly.

There are life lessons to be learned in that.

I was taught to always finish what you start.

That's a rule that a lot of parents have.  I've heard it from lots of folks.

Usually it is interpreted as a mandate that once you commit to playing on a team, you have to stick with that team until the end of the season.  I think that can be a pretty shallow way of looking at things.

I know of at least one circumstance where it just became impossible for a young athlete to continue on his team.  This young man went through summer camps and team workouts but soon after the season started decided for all the right reasons that he could no longer continue.

His situation was untenable and continuing just wasn't a good idea.  He instead focused on his other sport and did quite well there.

No, finishing what you start to me is more a commitment to self.  A commitment to excellence in all that you do. 

My own rule was that you had to play some sport (and make good grades and be happy).  It didn't matter what it was.  In my family, that wasn't an issue as my kids played everything.

Finishing what you start means staying committed to the Big Three: Exercise, Education, and Excellence. 

When I was high school, my mom would send me off to school by saying "you tell those girls at that school that you're the best looking boy in school."

I wasn't but moms need to tell those lies.